West Coast Best Coast

This past weekend Kenedy got to fly to California with her cheer team to compete in Nationals, hit the beach and explore Disneyland. They flew into LA on Friday and then Saturday morning was their Competition.

I was really bummed out on missing getting to watch her in this competition but some of my family were able to take the time to go and watch her and for most of them it was their first time seeing her compete. So although I wish I could have been there I am really glad that my family got to go and see her perform. 

Mom and Ashleigh took some pictures of her in the competition. When Mom sent the picture she took I commented on how lucky they were to get such good seats. She said that they reserved the first three rows for coaches and friends and family of the team performing. That sounds like a great idea and I wish more competitions would implement that rule. 

Grandma Bonnie, Heather, Kenedy, Ashleigh, Andrew Brown, Alec ad JayLynn

After the competition the team got to go to the beach for the rest of the afternoon.

A picture with all of the Seniors

Tori, Maddie, Jaycee, Sarah, Kenedy, Kaitlyn, Audrey and Noel

Team dinner

The next day on Sunday the team had plans to go to Disneyland. Since we believe in keeping the Sabbath day holy we approached Kenedy's coach to see if there was another option for Kenedy on that day rather then going to Disneyland. Kara was pretty understanding and let us make arrangements to have Heather pick her up from the Hotel that morning and take her to church with them, afterwards Kenedy got to spend the day at my Moms house hanging out with Alyssa, Alec, Jeremy and JayLynn plus she got to spend more time with her Grandma, Heather, Ashleigh and Andrew Brown. I know Kenedy was sad about missing the fun at Disneyland but it helped that she got to spend her time with her family. She was able to go to Disneyland with her team the next morning before they flew home later that night. 

Drama, Scouts and Basketball

A couple of months ago Rylee came home from school with an interest in signing up for a community theater class. A classmate had told Rylee about the theater class and Rylee came home telling me how much she really wanted to do it.  I had just signed her up to play Y-ball so I told her we needed to wait on the theater class, I am all for letting my kids pursue their interests but this wasn't the best of thing. She understood and agreed to wait. A couple of weeks ago my friend in the Ward, Melissa, posted online about some theater classes that the company she is a part of, Treasure Valley Children's Theater, were having. One of them was a Theater sampler which was a three day, 1 hour class where kids can participate and give acting class a try. It was pretty inexpensive and we did not have any conflicts on those days so I talked to Rylee about it and we got her signed up. Unlike the regular theater classes parents were allowed to stay and observe and I really enjoyed watching Rylee come out of her shell. She was fun and funny and really seemed to be having a great time. After the last class I asked Rylee if this was something she wanted to continue doing and she enthusiastically said "Yes!". Her teacher recommended the intermediate class and I signed Rylee up for a 12 week course with Melissa as the teacher. 

Ryker has been working really hard lately to get some Merit badges passed off and this week at our Ward Court of Honor he was able to receive recognition for the badges he earned and also to receive his Life Scout rank. It is  pretty big deal for him to have received this rank because the next rank to receive is his Eagle Scout which he is really wanting to earn. 

Also this week was Rylee's first Basketball game with her team the Tornadoes. It was really fun to watch her and to see how much she has improved since last year. She has gotten more aggressive in trying to get the ball and even earned herself some skinned knees in the process. With only 30 seconds left in the game Rylee got hit in the nose with the basketball and immediately her eyes welled up and she started crying. She tried to continue to play but her coach saw that she was hurting and called a time out to see if she wanted to sit out the rest of the game. Rylee told him she wanted to finish and she did. I was so proud of her for going back in when it would have been so easy to give up and sit on the sidelines. Rylee is amazing and her team winning the game made the day even more fun and exciting!

Sunday Fun

Sunday while we were sitting in Sacrament Meeting Avynlea got a hold of my phone and took some pictures that I was not aware of. She sure is a cute girl and I like that the angle she captured of me is not unflattering. 

I took Avynlea and her friend Morgan Williams to Wal-Mart on Saturday so Avynlea could get a present for a birthday party she was going to. As we were browsing around we found these super cute dresses for $7 each. We loved them so much and $7 was a great price so I bought one for Avynlea and one for Rylee. They wore them to church on Sunday and after we got home I had them pose for some pictures for me. I am glad that they do not mind wearing matching dresses every once in a while and that Avynlea was gracious to agree to me buying one for Rylee as well as one for her. These girls looked super cute in their new dresses and I was only a little jealous wishing they had one for me in my size. 

Later that night I was playing Codenames with Avy and Rylee when my phone started to alert me that I had a call from Joshua coming in on Hangouts. It happens every once in a while that someone will call the group or one of us without meaning to and I assumed that this was one of those times so I ignored the call. When it started to ring again 30 seconds later I thought maybe this is for real and not a drill so I answered to see my cutest nephew eating his dinner and grinning like a cheeseball at the camera. I had a really great time talking to Amos and Joshua, I told Joshua I had a dream a couple weeks ago that I was hanging out and playing with Amos and when I woke up it made me miss him so much. I was glad to be able to see him on the video chat and he kept us laughing with his crazy antics. After he ate his dinner he was wandering around playing with random things and then he decided to "clean up" by putting everything he could into his laundry basket. The remote, clothes, his Dad's shoes, bags... he is so cute and it made my night to see and talk to him and Joshua. 

Black Canyon Lake

On Monday the kids did not have school because of it being Martin Luther King Day. I still had to teach dance and I needed to go grocery shopping so I left the kids to go get my shopping done and then I headed to the studio to teach my class. After I got home and after we unloaded the car I ate lunch and then dropped Ryker off at Parker Myers house so they could work on a lesson for Sunday and also to hang out. Kenedy went to cheer practice and Rylee, Avynlea and I headed to Emmett to meet my friend Courtney and her family to have a playdate at Black Canyon Lake. It was Happy Hour at Sonic so we got some drinks while we waited for Courtney to meet up with us. 

While we waited I talked on the phone with my Mom for a little bit which was nice. Kenedy is going to California in a couple of weeks for a cheer trip and her coach agreed to let Kenedy spend Sunday with family so we were trying to figure out how to get her to Mom's and back. 

Once Courtney arrived we followed her and her husband out to the lake. I have worked with Courtney for the past couple of years at Elevated Dance and her oldest, Madi, has been in some of my dance classes. Courtney isn't teaching this year and I haven't seen her since May so we decided we needed to meet up because I have been missing her and I really wanted to see Madi again.

The water level at the lake was really low and we were able to walk pretty far out on the sandbar. Courtney brought sand toys and a shovel and the kids had fun playing with those. The sand went out really flat for a ways and then there was a big drop off with the lake down below. It was interesting to see and a little nerve racking watching the kids watch to the edge. The sand was not very stable and if someone were to stand right on the edge they would have the collapsed the sand and would have gone down. Luckily we all stayed safe. It was a nice sunny day and the sun helped us feel like it was nice weather even though it was in the high 40's. Once the sun started to go down we started to feel more of the chill and my feel especially started to get cold. 

I really enjoyed spending time visiting with Courtney and it was really great to see Madi and to talk with her. We have always been good buddies at the dance studio and I love that she still remembers me!

Me and Madi!

Courtney's husband Pete tried making a path down to the water and Rylee made it about halfway down before she decided to come back. The sand was just too unstable and I knew if she got to the bottom where we couldn't reach her it would have been too hard for her to climb up. I did find an area that had a shelf of sand below the top where we were standing and Avy and Rylee wanted to get down to it so I helped them and then after a minute or so pulled them back up.

We had a lot of fun getting out of the house and enjoying time in the sun with friends. 

I posted this picture on instagram with the caption 

"Playing at the beach, in Idaho in Winter!"

2018 MHS Cheer Clinic

Friday and Saturday the Meridian High School cheerleaders held their annual cheer clinic for kids pre-school to grade eight. I asked both Avynlea and Rylee if they wanted to participate, both have done it the previous years, Avynlea said yes and Rylee said no. Not too surprising. I put an announcement about it up on Facebook and Kenedy ended up having 8 kids sign up under her name. Holli Pollock signed up two of her girls Chloe and Mylie, Vanessa Bell signed up her two girls, Juliana and Amber, Lindsay Duffin signed up Grace and Avynlea had two of her friends sign up with her, Hope and Paige. 

After having a Friday night practice and a Saturday afternoon practice the girls were ready to perform at the MHS Boys Basketball game that night. Kefford, Rylee and I went to watch Avynlea perform and we found seats next to our friends the Pollocks which was fun. 

I was able to get pictures of Chloe, Grace and Mylie and they did a really great job performing. Kenedy was in charge of Mylie's group and I know she had a lot of fun working with the younger girls. In the below pictures she is seen helping the girls in the bottom of the picture.

Avynlea was in the oldest group to perform and she did such great job. A couple of the cheerleaders told me how much they liked her sass and spirit. She loved performing and she really loved being a flyer and doing fun stunts.

After it was over Kenedy wanted to get a picture with Avynlea and the Pollock girls. She has a special bond with this family and was really excited that Chloe and Mylie came to the clinic. Their little sister Sophie was sad she didn't get to participate but she had fun coming and watching her sisters.

Mylie, Sophie, Chloe, Kenedy and Avynlea

After the game Kefford and I dropped the kids off at home and then went out to eat at Fiesta Guadalajara. It has been a long time since we have had a date night and it was a nice and much needed time out together.

Rock Climbing

Rylee has had a canvas to be used for painting on for along time and she finally decided how she wanted to use it. She picked out and mixed the colors and I helped her with the taping. It turned out really cute. I think it looks like an abstract painting of a sunset over the ocean.

On Saturday we took Ryker, Avy and Rylee to the YMCA to go swimming, rock climbing and so that  Ryker could finally finish off his Swimming merit badge. The last thing he had to do was dive and it took us a while to finally get to a place with a deep enough pool. I talked him through it and had him practice on the side of the pool for a little bit and then finally had him go off the diving board. his technique was not perfect but he dove and I was super proud of him for finally getting it.

After they tired of swimming the kids went to go do some rock climbing. It was fun to watch them climb the rock wall and they had a lot of fun doing it. I think all three of them made the comment at some point that it was a lot harder then it looks. But they did it and all of them made it to the top to ring the bell!

Ryker

Rylee

Avynlea

Ringing the bell!

The last day...Oregon Coast

Monday was our last full day in Lincoln City and we spent it well. Kenedy wanted to go to the Outlet Mall to get a sweatshirt she saw there so I took her and we spent some time wandering the stores and looking at what the shops had to offer. Later Kefford and I took the kids to walk the small shops down the main strip. Later Rylee and Qiana decided they wanted to go swimming in the Ocean so they put on their bathing suits and left without telling anyone. Kelsey spotted them from the window and headed down to watch over them while they were down there, he was good to take a bunch of pictures for us Moms. They didn't last too long since the Ocean water was freezing but they had a good time while they were down there. 

Kenedy has been talking about doing some Senior Pictures on the beach while we were in Oregon and we have been planning on it for a while now. I asked Brit if she would bring her camera so we could use it and she brought it but forget to grab the battery that she had charging. Oops. We figured we could just use our phone cameras and I told Kenedy to let me know when she was ready. She was not sure she wanted to do it anymore, she was tired and it was cold so I told her whatever she wanted to do and I let it be. A little while later she came over dressed and ready to go. I was a little surprised because I figured she was not doing it anymore but I grabbed our phones and off we went. It was cold and windy but the hardest part, I think, was how wet all of the sand was. There was not a dry part of the beach anywhere. We did the best we could and Brit was great to edit them for us and I think we got some great shots. Kenedy also picked out some pictures we had taken on the beach in California for Brit to edit and she did a good job making those better also. Between all of these beach pictures and the ones Lindsay took we are definitely set for Senior pictures.

Brite sent me this picture of Avynlea feeding Hazel a popsicle which I thought was super cute.

And Whitney sent me this picture of Avynlea holding Kinsley on the beach. Avy was one with the babies this trip!

On the shore were really long and thick ropes of seaweed. On our New Years Eve tide-too walk Kefford picked one up and using it as a whip had Trevor take his picture. Kefford sent it to me after I had published the New Years Eve post but I thought it was a really cool picture and included it here so we could have it.

The next morning we got up early and left to drive home. We had a really great time at the coast and the highlight of the entire trip was all of the family time we had. I was happy to be able to spend time with all of the Peterson's and develop better relationships with ones I normally do not see too often. It was a great trip and I am thankful we were able to go.